Close Gaps, Unlock Student Potential Mississippi Partners with National Center Network to Address Student Achievement Gaps and Support Special Education Teachers

Diane L. Godwin

It is more critical than ever to support teachers in helping students reach their full potential and close achievement gaps. The Mississippi Department of Education’s Office of School Improvement collaborated with the Region 7 Comprehensive Center (R7CC) and the National Comprehensive Center (NCC) to close student achievement gaps by empowering teachers to provide the personalized support needed for each student to fulfill their unique capabilities.

Mississippi is not alone in facing this challenge; nationwide, significant achievement gaps impact students with disabilities and those living in poverty, with many performing, on average, three years behind their peers. However, individualized support from skilled teachers and adaptable curriculums can help bridge this gap. With 7.5 million students across the country identified with disabilities in 2022-23, educational leaders are rethinking how to better address the diverse and evolving needs of all students.

The Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Executive Director of School Improvement Sonja Robertson, Ph.D., said, “Despite the continuous efforts of schools and teachers, the achievement gap for students with disabilities remains, but we can enhance outcomes for these students, and those in poverty by providing support that enables teachers to seamlessly integrate improvements, ultimately improving teaching and learning.”

To address this challenge, the MDE R7CC and NCC partnership launched two distinct Communities of Practice, (CoP) with the first focused on supporting students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to enhance their academic outcomes.

“The Community of Practice focused on students in poverty brought together a diverse group of educators, in - cluding teachers, principals, assistant principals, superintendents, curriculum directors and special education experts. Together, they collaborated to address critical questions around the biggest challenges in supporting students in poverty, how to effectively implement high-leverage practices and how to deliver high-quality professional development,” explained Kim Benton, Ed.D., a former MDE administrator and a National Comprehensive Center (NCC) consultant serving as Mississippi’s liaison.

Benton further explained that from the initial CoP, the Supporting Students in Poverty with High-Impact Instructional Strategies Toolkit was expanded with additional resources added based on suggestions from Mississippi educators. The Toolkit is an invaluable resource that equips teachers, principals, district staff and state agencies with evidence-based strategies and actionable supports designed to mitigate the negative effects of poverty on student achievement.

“This [Toolkit] offers the right connection to resources that schools/districts are using. It is easier to see it as a tool instead of something else to do,” said Steven Palmer, student intervention coach.

“The [walk-through training] sessions show how the Toolkit integrates with both the teacher and administrator growth rubrics. This is powerful,” said Emma Cornwall, director of federal programs, Columbus Municipal School District.

The partnership between the MDE and the NCC made Mississippi the first state to develop and implement a CoP training program specifically focused on supporting economically disadvantaged students.

“Developing the initial CoP was a crucial step in laying the foundation focused on inclusive practices and supporting students with disabilities,” Ben- ton explained. “It has helped us identify how evidence-based strategies support economically disadvantaged students and overlap with high-leverage practices for students with disabilities.”

Using a similar model, the MDE Office of School Improvement collaborated with the R7CC, which operated under the National Comprehensive Center Network, to create a Community of Practice around the high-leverage practices (HLPs) for students with disabilities. This CoP highlighted three specific high-leverage practices—explicit instruction, curriculum adaptation and scaffolded supports. The CoP also tapped into implementation science strategies. The initiative was designed to help district personnel, school lead- ers and instructional staff gain a deeper understanding of the HLPs. The CoP also aimed to help school leaders understand the key actions needed to implement the use of the HLPs in classrooms.

“High-Leverage Practices are essential to effective teaching and critical for helping all students learn key content,” said Amye Rowan, Ed.S., director of MDE’s Office of Student Outcomes. “In our Community of Practice, we focused on HLP 13, 15 and 16, which provide teachers with tools to meet diverse needs and close achievement gaps, ensuring all students succeed.”

“We had valuable input from MDE’s Office of Special Education, with the Office of School Improvement playing a key role in guiding this initiative,” said

The (HLPs) are the 22 most critical practices for K – 12 teachers. The HLPs were developed to meet the following criteria:

(1) Focus on instructional practices

(2) Occur with high frequency

(3) Research based and known to foster student engagement & learning

(4) Broadly applicable

(5) So important that skillful execution is fundamental to effective teaching (Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center, 2017)

Simply put, implementation science is the principles and practices that support doing “the thing” effectively. “The thing” in our case is the implementation of the HLPs. The successful implementation of any initiative or intervention does not happen by accident. Rather, it involves purposeful planning, communication, and feedback.

Implementation science helps leaders lay the groundwork for introducing and improving the application of evidence -based practices In our case, this refers to the use of HLPs

As a result of both CoPs, a resourceful crosswalk was created to connect high-leverage practices for students with disabilities to high-impact in - structional strategies for economically disadvantaged students. This resource is available to all public and private educators nationwide free of charge: https://compcenternetwork. org/resources/resource/8884/cross - walk-high-leverage-practices-students-disabilities-and-supporting

“The crosswalk […] makes direct, practical connections that support buy in from all teachers, but particularly veteran teachers,” said Olivia Cote, in -

Provide instruction that meets each student’s individual needs by to facilitate students’ understanding of tasks and to assess students’ thinking, language, writing, or

Are attentive to students’ organizers) but are attuned to and adjust for students’ moment